Patrick Hennessy writes about politics for the Telegraph.

Local elections 2008: Ed Balls faces up to Labour's problems

Full coverage of the local elections 2008At lastÂ some candour from a senior Labour figure. After ill-judged performances from James Purnell, Harriet Harman and (especially) Geoff Hoon it was refreshing to hear Ed Balls take it on the chin on The World At One.

The schools secretary, who has been under fire both from Tories and his own side, admitted: "In the main it's been a bad night for us. I don't think we can dismiss this as simply about a mid-term normal set of problems.

"I think people are worried about the state of the economy, but on the doorstep they have also been cross with us. They think that their tax bills are going up, that their fuel prices are going up, that their utility bills are going up and they want to know that we're doing more to help them through difficult times and that we are on their side."

Many of those surrounding Brown have no real idea – even now – of the scale of the problems Labour faces. Balls is not one of them – he "gets it."